Posted on 03/15/2011 4:42:03 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance
#1 - “Song of the Volga Boatmen” - Glenn Miller
#2 - “Oh Look at Me Now” - Tommy Dorsey, with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers
#3 - “Frenesi”-Artie Shaw
#4 - “Anvil Chorus” – Glenn Miller
#5 - “It All Comes Back to Me Now” - Hal Kemp, with Bob Allen
#6 – “You Walk By” – Eddy Duchin, with Johnny Drake
#7 – “High on a Windy Hill” – Gene Krupa, with Howard Dulaney
#8 - “Perfidia” - Xavier Cugat
#9 – “I Hear a Rhapsody” – Dinah Shore
#10 - “Dancing in the Dark” – Artie Shaw
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1941/mar41/f15mar41.htm
German raiders claim 16 ships
Saturday, March 15, 1941 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... Sixteen ships from a dispersing convoy are sunk (during March 15-16) by the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. During this encounter the British battleship Rodney comes up but cannot close the range and engage. After this the British hunt for the German battle cruisers is extensive but unsuccessful.
In East Africa... The British attacks toward Keren, Eritrea, are renewed. Both 4th and 5th Indian divisions are involved. The first attacks by 4th Indian division go fairly well but not all the gains can be held.
In Washington... In an important speech Roosevelt promises that the United States will supply Britain and the Allies “aid until victory” and that there will be an “end to compromise with tyranny.”
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
March 15th, 1941
UNITED KINGDOM:
London: Winston Churchill to the Admiralty controller:
Give me a report on the progress of the ships to carry and disgorge tanks. How many are there? What is their tonnage? How many tanks can they take in a flight? When will each one be ready? Where are they being built? What marks of tank can they carry?
Minesweeper HMS Sidmouth launched.
ASW trawler HMS Quadrille launched.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Rysa launched.
Minesweepers HMS Alarm and Algerine laid down.
Submarine HMS Umbra launched.
Corvette HMS Bryony launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
BELGIUM: Liege: Belgian politicians of all parties form the “Independent front” resistance movement.
FRANCE:
Paris: The city’s art collectors have had the honour of receiving a Reichsmarschall Herman Göring . He is here to pick for himself the best of the privately owned works of art which Hitler has ordered to be considered as war booty - to be used as a bargaining weapon in future peace negotiations with France.
He has already chosen works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Goya from the stock of stolen art work stored at the Louvre and the Jeu de Paume. They will be taken to Karinhall, his mansion near Berlin.
Soon after the German occupation Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi Reichsleiter for home affairs, set up a special organisation to bring works back to Germany. By the autumn, Rosenberg estimated that some 22,000 objects of value had been “collected”, including 5,281 paintings and 2,477 pieces of furniture. Special care has been taken to seize Jewish-owned works of art. The assets of the Rothschild banking family, whose members fled the country when the Nazis came, have been rushed to Germany in special trains.
GERMANY:
U-82, U-433, U-434 launched.
U-371 commissioned.
U-168, U-181, U-210 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
ALBANIA: Very heavy Italian artillery fire against the Greek positions conceals the fact that only a few limited initiatives are being made on the ground. Over the following two days, there will be artillery fire only, and no ground attacks. (Mike Yaklich)
PORTUGAL: Lisbon: the Portuguese capital has become a haven for refugees from all over Europe fleeing from Nazi persecution. Many spend weeks in miserable accommodation here waiting in terror for a passage on a ship to Australia or the Americas, as far as possible from the Third Reich. There are now so many refugees in the Atlantic port that the American Export Line, the only US shipping line with a regular European service, has stopped taking bookings until existing ones are cleared.
ERITREA: British 4th and Indian 5th divisions launch a series of attacks towards Keren. The first attacks by the 4th Division go fairly well but not all the gains can be held. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: Japanese forces take Fengxin, in Kiangsi province, in a major new assault on Shanggao.
AUSTRALIA: Two transports sail from Brisbane, Queensland, with troops bound for Thursday Island off the north coast of Queensland; Port Moresby, New Guinea; and Rabaul, New Britain Island, Bismarck Archipelago. (Jack McKillop)
CANADA: Tug HMCS Hodgeville assigned to St John’s. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.: Washington: Roosevelt said here tonight that there is no longer the slightest doubt that the American people have demanded a policy of all-out, unqualified aid for Britain, Greece, China and the governments of the democracies in exile.
Prussian autocracy was bad enough, the President told the White House correspondent’s dinner in a key address, but “Nazism is far worse.”
Mr Roosevelt spoke of the “vital bridge across the ocean, the bridge of ships” carrying good and arms to “those who are fighting the good fight.”
He promised that the US will supply Britain and the Allies “aide until victory” and that there will be an “end of compromise with tyranny.”
“Song Of The Volga Boatmen” by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra reaches Number 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the U.S. This song, which debuted on the charts on 22 February 1941, was charted for 8 weeks, was Number 1 for 1 week and was ranked Number 10 for the year 1941. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: Today and tomorrow, German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sink or capture 16 unescorted ships in the Newfoundland area.
Today Gneisenau captures the Norwegian tanker BIANCA (5688 tons), POLYKARB (6400 tons), the British SAN CASIMIRO (8000 tons), putting prize crews onto these vessels to sail them to Bordeaux. BIANCA and SAN CASIMIRO encounter HMS Renown and 46 British prisoners are released and the German sailors taken captive, although not before they had scuttled the tankers. (Alex Gordon)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 562 March 15, 1941
950 miles East of Nova Scotia, German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst encounter an unescorted convoy of empty merchant ships returning to USA, sinking 3 tankers (6 crew and 1 gunner killed, most rescued). Gneisenau also captures 3 tankers which will sail with prize crews for France (only Norwegian tanker Polykarb will reach Bordeaux). Most of the merchant seamen are rescued by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst.
Battle of Keren, Eritrea. Since February, Italian defenses in the Dongolaas Gorge have been reinforced to 25,000 troops. 4th and 5th Indian Divisions (13,000 men) resume the attack at 7 AM, taking hilltops either side of the Gorge during heavy fighting all day and night. Ground changing hands several times and there are heavy casualties on both sides. Italians still hold the dominating position in Fort Dologordoc.
In mid-Atlantic 650 miles Southwest of Cape Verde Islands, German armed merchant cruiser Kormoran meets U-124 to resupply her with provisions and 7 torpedoes. The sea is too rough so they head South looking for calmer waters.
South of Iceland, U-110 spots convoy HX-112 (41 merchant ships, escorted by 5 destroyers and 2 corvettes) and summons U-37, U-74, U-99 & U-100. Overnight, U-110 torpedoes British tanker Erodona, setting her cargo of fuel oils from Aruba on fire (32 crew and 4 gunners lost). Convoy escorts drop 24 depth charges and chase off U-110, which is not damaged. MV Erodona’s burnt out hulk will be towed to Iceland and repaired (returning to service in February 1944).
Unfortunately, design problems will delay the introduction of the SB2C Helldiver until late 1943. I actually made mention of the first Helldiver missions on the reduction of Rabaul in a paper I wrote titled “Rabaul: It Gives You Wings”.
Lieut, General Walter C. Short,
Fort Shafter, T. H.Dear General Short : The matters referred to in your secret letter dated March 6, 1941, and the inclosures thereto, have been given careful study.
The War Department appreciates fully the necessity for the early establishment of the aircraft warning service stations in the Hawaiian Department. However, it will be necessary to comply with certain fixed regulations in those cases where facilities are to be established on lands pertaining to the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service officials are willing to give us the temporary use of their lands when other lands are not suitable for the purpose, but they will not waive the requirements as to the submission of preliminary building plans showing the architecture and general appearance. They are also very definitely opposed to permitting structures of any type to be erected at such places as will be open to view and materially alter the natural appearance of the reservation.
I have given these matters my personal attention, and have conferred with officials of the National Park Service. War Department radiogram of March 12, 1941, outlines what appears to be the most practical solution at this time. The War Department finds it necessary to ask the Department of the Interior for the use of many tracts of land in the National Parks, and for their cooperation in the transfer of large areas of public lands. It is not believed that it would be advisable to attempt to alter the informal decisions of the Department of the Interior by carrying this matter to higher authority, or to prolong the discussion through official channels.
We are as anxious as you to work out a solution for these problems with the least practicable delay, and I know that I can count upon you for fullest cooperation.
Faithfully yours,
[Stamped] (Signed) Wm. BRYDEN,
In the absence of the Chief of Staff.
I find it interesting that the Department of the Interior is causing a delay in the establishment of the first radar station on Hawaii due to the bureaucracy of getting permission to use the land.
This next is a response from Short to General Marshall considering the state of air defenses in Hawaii at this time. Seems like the Army is short on personnel just like the Navy is.
Because . . .?
I bet next year at this time the Army will have better luck in intergovernmental shoving matches.
I was pretty amazed at that point myself. There definitely does not appear to be any sense of urgency. The letter by Short from today mentions the shortage of 8 AWS. That implies that there was plans in place to put 8 radar stations up in Hawaii. To my knowledge, only one is in place by December. I now wonder what the hold up was on the other 7.
Richard C. Hottelet: ‘Guest’ of the Gestapo
Thanks. He had a distinctive voice that I can still remember from many years ago.
Can't remember when was the last report I heard from him, am thinking, during the Cronkite era.
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